Can I get unemployment benefits if I quit my job. Kentucky

by sheena
(Louisville KY)

I have three kids and a Mother that has had brain surgery so I take care of her. I have FMLA at work for my mother and for my self because I get Migrain headaches they don't know where they are comming from prob stress. I also attend school at night. My employer is always asking me about my FMLA because I have to use so many days that she is not suppose to due. I have just moved to a new position when I went into the interview I asked about my hours I work 7:00am- 3:30pm they told me that would not be a problem they wrote it down. when I started there was a new supervisor that does not agree with these hours and wants me to come in between 8-9am that will not work for me because of my current situation that's why I expressed it in the interview. I went to our HR department and they investigated my new position has to let me post out because they were wrong for hiring me telling me it was ok with my current hours and changing things. my company is on a freeze and they are not hiring now anywhere. And my current supervisor keeps questioning me about my hours but I can't change them. I am stressed dealing with this job and I have other obligations to my kids and mother. I am thinking about quiting and going to nursing school they have a 12 month program but I have to go all day to complete it.

Hi Sheena,

If you quit and it is found to be with good cause .. due to the hours, but then attend school which will limit your hours of availability for work you will not be able and available for work, therefore disqualified.

The exception would be if the "schooling" is "state approved training".

Comments for Can I get unemployment benefits if I quit my job. Kentucky

Hi,I have lived in Kentucky for eight years and have been employed the entire time. From April 2008 - March 2014 I was employed at the same location, earning $52,000 per year at the end. I took a new job in the middle of March that was MUCH closer to my home and I earn $33,000 per year. However, I have just found out that the corporation my husband works for is transferring him within the company to a new location in South Carolina. This was not an optional transfer. By the time I relocate to South Carolina to join him I will have worked at my current location for approximately five months. Should I be eligible to collect unemployment until I can secure a job in South Carolina?

Aug 24, 2011

Unfair Treatmentby: Anonymous

I worked for a company for three years and have received a raise twice, a dollar an hour each time. I have been telling my boss that it takes more than one person to get the job done. And other people in my office as well as costumers have told her that too. About six months ago she hired somebody part time to help me out. I found out that she pays this person more that she pays me. The only work this person does is filing answering phones etc. And on top of that this person gets paid "under the table".On top of that there are things that are not being handled the way they should. When I ask questions and want to do things they way they should be done, I am being told that it will be ok and not to worry.

Hi,

Clearly, from only the info you provided here .. no one will tell you that you have good cause to quit your job and receive unemployment.

My employer owes me unpaid wages in Kentucky. Can I quit my job with good cause for this?

I have been working for the same company for four years now. Starting June 2010 they started having sever financial problems and started bouncing payroll checks. And then holding payroll checks. For the last six months I have been behind two payroll checks. I am not facing an issue of next week being behind three payroll checks. As well I have several expense reports dating back to November 2009 which are not paid. The only time I get any money for my services is if I pester my boss about the money owed to me. I have used up all of my savings just to pay my bills and now I am facing the situation of being behind, no savings to pay bills, and a mortgage payment for which I have no money for. I have been looking for a job for since June with no luck due to the job market. If I quit my job would I be eligible for unemployment benefits?

Hi,

Whenever someone asks about quitting due to unpaid wages and includes unemployment in the same question .. I will always say STOP!

It's the "reasonable" thing to do .. even unemployment departments think it is the reasonable thing to do as a first measure, no matter what state you live in.

Dec 06, 2010

Updateby: Anonymous

I posted a few months ago wanting to know if I was eliblible for unemployment benefits if I quit my job because of a difficult pregnancy, long drive and being badly mistreated by co-workers. Here is the update:

I talked with my supervisor several times. She was of no help. It turns out that she went to high school with and has been good friends with one of the people who didn't want me hired, for several years. Her response to me was, "I know that she is a stronger personality than you, but I know her, and I know that she is a good person. You just have to overlook things, and be the bigger person." That was not the response that I wanted or needed. As the boss, you should not allow an employee to treat another employee badly when you are completely aware of the situation. She should have confronted it. So, I set up a meeting with the 3 people who didn't want me to be hired to try to find a solution to the issues that they were having with me. I let them know that I wanted our working situation to be positive, but I needed to know what I could do to make it better. Their response was that they just thought that somebody else would have been a better fit, and they felt like their opinions didn't matter. The working relationship never got better. They continued to constantly snap at me, not include me in projects we were supposed to work together on, stand me up at meetings and roll their eyes when I was talking.....

My bleeding began to get worse...literally, a couple of times I just stood up from sitting for a while, and blood would run down my legs. My doctor advised medical leave and partial bed rest. Since I had not been at my job for at least a year, I was not eligible for FMLA. My only option was to take my sick days and resign. I didn't have enough sick days to take me through to my due date. At the end of this year, I will lose my health insurance ,dental insurance and income. It will cost over $700 a month for me to go on my husband's health insurance and over $800 when the baby comes at the end of January. Our total monthly income will have gone from $5400 to $1600. I honestly don't know what I could have done to make this situation better. I feel like I should be eligible for unemployment benefits because I had no choice but to quit my job when my doctor ordered medical leave and I wasn't eligible.

The choice would have been to request a leave of absence .. due to the medical needs and allowed the employer to terminate your employment, thereby, effectively shifting the burden back to the employer to prove misconduct .. which they couldn't have .. given the medical documentation.

You probably wouldn't have been able to collect while on bed rest, but once cleared by a doctor for work again .. you would have.

Sep 21, 2010

Pregnant and a LONG driveby: Anonymous

I accepted a position 3 weeks before I found out I am pregnant. My pregnancy is difficult. I am constantly (literally, all day) throwing up. I am exhausted. I have migraines, and even though I am SO tired, I can not sleep more than 3 hours at night. This is largely due to my dread of going to work. I am so miserable at my job. The commute is 1 hour and 20 minutes each day there and back....a total of 2 hours and 40 minutes of driving. To make matters worse, my boss has told me that a few people didn't want to hire me because they had a friend who applied, and when she chose to hire me, they became very upset. These co-workers who didn't want to hire me now treat me very badly. They do not include me on things that we are supposed to be working together on, and one of them is constantly snapping at me and talking rudely to me. This is my first year on the job. I have no experience in this area, and these are the people who are supposed to be helping me. I have absolutely no help, and I am so, so unhappy. My doctor has prescribed Wellbutrin, but I am personally uncomfortable taking it because I am pregnant. My baby is not due until January 31st. I don't think I can stand working there that much longer. Am I eligible for unemployment benefits if I quit?

Hi,

Quitting because you are pregnant would not be attributable to the employment. You would have to either have FMLA or request a LOA first to correct this problem. The long drive would not be attributable to the employment because you knew the distance when you accepted the job.

Being mistreated by co-workers who wanted the employer to hire someone else is something you must also make an effort to correct.

When we have a problem at work which makes us want to quit .. it not only has to be a situation that any other reasonable person would not be willing to continue working under, but we must also be able to prove that we exhausted all alternatives to solve the problem with the employer's help.

So you see, providing me with a litany of reasons you want to quit is only half of what the unemployment department will want to know.

They will also want to know what you did to try to preserve the employment and what the employer's response was to you to solve a "legitimate problem". The legitimacy of the reasons are solved by applying the "reasonable person standard".

The following is just my opinion about the "reasonable person".

If you read enough hearing decisions you will see that phrase used over and over again.

And frankly, although every issue in unemployment is supposed to be resolved in an objective way .. when an individual such as a hearing officer applies this standard .. it is their subjective beliefs and opinions that may get in the way when determining what is reasonable.

Then, the only recourse for an appellant would be to have known if there was an actual precedent that "defined what was reasonable for a similar situation".

Sep 02, 2009

Inability to provide a good work atmosphereby: in NK/Cincy

I have been at my job for almost two years in an open work environment (no partitions, can see everyone from your desk). I have raised multiple (verbal) complaints and now a written complaint about a coworker who continually abuses the company's internet via online shopping as well as using company IM all day and making/taking personal phone calls (this person sits right in front of me). I am not the first to complain and this person has out-right acknowledged that they cause disruption. This has created a poor work environment with daily distractions, disruptions, stress from being unable to focus, unintentional mistakes in the work, and poor morale. My management and this person's management has done nothing to resolve the complaints or create a suitable work environment for me and others feeling this way. I go to work stressed, I sit there stressed, I leave stressed and to a point that I don't want to go into work because I know this person's inability to respect others and the company will cause this undo stress. I have thought about quitting but jobs are hard to come by. Would this qualify as 'no fault of self'? I find difficulty in clarification from the state's statutes and websties.

Hi NK

I find it very doubtful that this would be considered good cause. An employer is pretty much free to enforce their rules any way they like.

This would more likely be the stuff used to get UI benefits if the employer actually discharged someone for violations of the same ilk.

If it happened to you, your prior and hopefully documented efforts regarding another's violations, would raise the question of whether the rules were uniformly enforced.

Now, with all that said, I not saying you might not be able to develop a sound argument to win an unemployment hearing, but in my opinion it would be an uphill battle and the results would always be a big question mark until the end of the process .. at least for me they would.

I think I would just continue to proceed down the path you are currently taking. You might want to speak to a doctor about the stress it is causing you and let the employer know that their avoidance has created this necessity.

This will probably do one of two things. They will either recognize that they must finally do something .. or they will begin to see you as the pain in the ass that they would like to get rid of.

So in any event .. be sure to document everything well. Ask that any written communications that you feel should be placed in your personnel file be placed there.

Jul 10, 2009

Unpaid Wagesby: Chris - (webmaster:)

Hi Anonymous,

First I'd like to thank you for you submission. There are hundreds of thousands of people .. particularly women .. in the same situation, but there are plenty of single Dads out there in the same situation .. Zoloft or Prozac .. the drug that makes you see intolerable conditions through rose colored glasses.

After I read your story, the first thing I looked for was Kentucky's labor laws for overtime pay. I ended up at the USDOL through a link at Kentucky Personnel Cabinet.

I couldn't find any information on the Kentucky website about how to collect unpaid wages or file a complaint about not being paid overtime. In some states you have to contact a lawyer, but you'd also want to make sure that the state's statutes also require the employer to pay your lawyer fees too. You could ask that question for free before you hire an attorney. Unpaid wages can be good cause for quitting, but the burden to prove those conditions existed and first making attempts to be paid fairly are not something I think should be ignored.

Employers don't have to provide insurance, paid vacation, or sick days .. those are fringe benefits, but depending on the state and it's statutes, halting a fringe benefit may be good cause for quitting.

If you started taking your kids to the doctor yourself and got a doctor's note each time and made sure you followed the call-off procedure .. you'd probably get unemployment as long as the absences were "out of your control".

I would also go to the whip cracker and present him with the information that your doctor has prescribed Zoloft to help you deal with the stresses of having to work unpaid overtime and address that issue also. And ask him what he's going to do about the conditions. If he fires you for even presenting this information .. file for unemployment .. because it would not be with good cause.

Jul 10, 2009

Overworked and not being paid overtime.by: Anonymous

I have been at the same job for 12 years. I have NOT had a raise in 7 years. I have went down in pay at the same job and i do not have vacation days, sicks days or any of the above. I am a mother of 3 and i find others to take my kids to the doctors. My boss has us working overtime with no pay no benefits nothing. He constantly yells at me and they put entirely too much work load on me in other like places of business they have 3 ppl that do the job I do..I am looking for another job but due to the recession It is hard to find and MY boss is constantly slapping the whip. It is hard to come home and finish my responsibilities at home due to overtime without pay and just stressed from the aggravation they put me through . I went to the doctor last night and they prescribed me ZOLOFT ... ZOLOFT ???